James Jouppi

War of Hearts and Minds: An American Memoir James Jouppi

Under the best of conditions, the Peace Corps experience is somewhat like being parachuted into a human drama unfolding in a different culture. The volunteer may struggle mightily to be understood, but his attempts can be for naught if he misunderstands the framework of his role. Unfortunately, in spite of Peace Corps training, the only way a Peace Corps volunteer can understand the framework of his or her Peace Corps role is to live inside it, or even, as in the case of author James Jouppi, return to the site where he was stationed without the trappings of Peace Corps. In August of 1971, Jouppi arrived in Thailand as part of Peace Corps Thailand Group 38, a civil engineering group slated to work in the most communist-sensitive and most poverty-stricken areas of Thailand for Thailand's Community Development Department. In War of Hearts and Minds, he documents the challenges of working inside the Peace Corps system, both prior to his work areas being designated red and after that time as well, before moving on to his attempts to work outside the Peace Corps system. Augmented with maps, photographs, and letters, War of Hearts and Minds offers a compelling look into both the politics of Nixon-era America and that of staunchly anti-communist Thailand as Thailand fought a shadow war adjoining the one that was raging in Vietnam and Laos. In his final chapters, Jouppi follows threads from Thailand as they unfold in American culture before providing insights for possible strategies in the future which could bring the goal of worldwide peace and justice closer to frution.